Hi - my first post here after joining. I was recommended this forum for the wide knowledge base, so here goes!

I've had pinballs on and off for years, always the electro-mechanical ones from my teens, and am quite comfy with tweaks and repairs, and reading the diagrams. I just found one I remember playing as a teen, so while a bit cosmetically tatty, it plays well and I can do the repairs necessary. As it played fine when I bought it, I didn't even look inside, apart from a quick check to see why one of the reels looked a little odd, and that was also fine.

I lifted the play field to discover the most flithy insides I've ever seen. God knows where it's been but everything is black. You can hardly read the stapled labels and the colour coding on the wiring is really impossible to see. Could be red or brown, and black high be dark blue. I can't think how it got this bad, as the outside is quite clean and the Playfield is close to spotless.

Bearing in mind the insulation on the cabling being the old cloth type, does anyone have any suggestions on how on earth to remove the staining and reveal the colours. I think the damage is old, because rubbing the wiring loom doesn't result in much of a darkening of the cloth - as if the staining happened years ago, then the machine was taken somewhere warmer and it kind of set. I'm sure I could dabble with chemicals but I don't want to eat through the fabric. I'm wondering if maybe dry cleaning chemicals could work? Nasty stuff I'm told - but equally it could make the wiring brittle which would be even worse.

This could even be a common problem, but I've never come across it before. The UK climate is damp, so I suppose maybe being stored somewhere damp at some point might have happened, but there's little rust on the machine. The worst issues are very visible wood grain in the timber, which has resulted in a very poor outer cabinet finish, while the under glass paint is pretty decent, considering the age. It's a Gottlieb Outer Space - if this is in any way important?

It doesn't need any electrical repairs, as everything works bar a few bulbs. The only mods seem to be that it's on permanent freeplay and the coin mechs have been removed.

IMG_2405 (resized).jpg

Ah - so kind of scrub and suck? I think I may have a very small nozzle/brush on an old vac somewhere, maybe I can bodge something. I just wish I knew how it got this black inside - in the picture you can see the state of the label - pretty grim.

Thanks for the welcome - appreciated.

Great! Time's not an issue, so when I do the strip out and clean - needed because the very bottom panel is not in good shape, although the relay board is surprisingly sound, I'll give the wiring harness a clean without worrying too much.